Thursday, May 19, 2011

05/19/2011
The gritty former chairman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Manoling Morato, again made his presence felt recently, this time exposing what he believes are budding anomalies involving among the staunchest supporters of Noynoy.

This time around, however, Manoling gathered bloggers instead of members of the traditional media, likely as a result of his perception that major newspapers and broadcast outfits are protectors of the administration.

One of those in the interview related that Manoling gave an explosive insight into the backroom dealings among Noynoy’s circle of supporters, as he particularly trained his sight on the PCSO, which obviously he still has allies informing him of what is transpiring within the walls of the lotto and sweepstakes agency..... MORE

05/19/2011
Having been slapped down — and rightly so — by the Catholic bishops whom he had threatened to charge with sedition on their call for civil disobedience, Noynoy, through his mouthpiece, has suddenly turned biblical.

As bishops likened Noynoy to King Herod, who ordered all first borns of Jews to be killed, owing to his stand in the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, there went Edwin Laceirda and his group, claiming that they were astounded by the bishops’ statements, which they described as “highly inflammatory.”

Despite the bishops not “behaving accordingly,” Noynoy claimed he preferred to give the bishops bread, instead of throwing stones at them.

As for the disagreements, he said: “we will respect them for that. We will not throw stones. We will continue to throw bread at them ... We will turn the other cheek, as what we’ve always done. The President is very respectful of the bishops. We expect men of faith to behave accordingly.”.... MORE

05/19/2011
TOKYO — Some of Japan’s biggest firms remain unable to forecast their prospects for the coming months due to the impact of March’s massive earthquake, which is expected to plunge the economy into recession.

Automakers such as Toyota, electronics giants such as Sharp and airline All Nippon Airways skipped annual forecasts citing uncertainty over the scale of disruption that will also be seen in Japan’s first quarter GDP data Thursday.

“While the earthquake occurred late in the quarter, the contraction in activity after the earthquake will likely be enough to bring down the growth rate in Q1 deep into negative territory,” noted BNP Paribas’ chief Japan economist Ryutaro Kono.

The economy shrank an annualized 2.0 percent in the first three months of this year, economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires said, marking the second-straight quarterly contraction as production, exports and consumption tumble..... MORE

05/19/2011
Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez and Deputy Commissioner Gregorio Chavez have been slapped with libel, grave misconduct and abuse of authority raps by a Davao businessman in retaliation for a P5-billion smuggling charge that they had earlier lodged against him and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines.

The other week, Customs lawyers, upon the say so of Alvarez, filed a complaint with the Department of Justice against licensed broker Jorlan Cabanes and Phoenix for allegedly smuggling oil products from Thailand amounting to some P5.14 billion from June 2010 to April 2011.

Lawyers for Phoenix president and CEO Dennis Ang Uy, whom the BoC also included in the smuggling complaint, are said to be contemplating on the same course of action to protect their client’s good name and reputation..... MORE

05/19/2011
RAMADIN — Palestinians desperate for work in Israel will go to extremes to sneak past the West Bank barrier, but now they face a new hurdle — army attack dogs sent to sniff them out.

Workers say the use of dogs to hunt down anyone trying to enter Israel illegally is a new phenomenon which has only been occurring for about two months.

But it is a development which has quickly spread fear and anger among the worker population living in the south Hebron Hills, one of the poorest areas in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Israeli army readily admits to using dogs in its operations in the West Bank, but says they are only brought in as a way of protecting the sprawling separation barrier from Palestinian vandals looking to create openings which would allow “terrorists” to infiltrate Israel..... MORE

05/19/2011
Despite the frequent breast-beating of President Aquino about the economic gains under his administration and the reforms it supposedly introduced in the business sector, the Philippines was ranked the least competitive country in Asia-Pacific with its global ranking this year falling two notches to 41st place from last year’s 39th in the World Competitiveness Scoreboard.

The annual ranking of the Swiss-based International Institute for Management and Development (IMD) graded an Asian territory, Hong Kong, in a tie with the United States as being the most competitive this year.

In Asia, the Philippines was last among 13 countries ranked with a 63.291 out of a perfect 100 which was lower than that of Indonesia at 12th with a 64.61 score; India, 11th with a score of 70.649; Thailand, 10th with a score of 74.886, and Japan, 9th with a 75.214 score.

At the top of the rung were Hong Kong, first with a perfect 100; Singapore, second with 98.557; Taiwan, third with 92.011; Australia, fourth with 89.259; Malaysia, fifth with 84.12, and China, sixth with 81.1..... MORE

A ranking member of the House opposition said the minority in the chamber may seek an inves-tigation into the alleged additional P2 billion infused into the contro-versial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program being implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

At a press briefing, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman expressed surprise when informed that Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, during her presentation before the House appropriations committee last Tuesday, admitted the CCT budget was raised from the originally-approved P21.19 billion to P23.39 billion. This despite the fact she did not raise the number of CCT beneficiaries pegged at 2.3 million families..... MORE

Vice President Jejomar Binay already wears so many hats in President Aquino’s government, Malacañang said yesterday in an apparent bid to allay Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s concerns that former Sen. Mar Roxas might overshadow the elected second highest official of the land once he gets appointed as Presidential Chief of Staff.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda reminded everyone that Binay already heads the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and acts as the President’s special adviser on overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) concerns as well.

Also, just recently, Binay was designated by Aquino to chair the Presidential Task Force Against Illegal
Recruitment which was reactivated only last May 6 by virtue of Executive Order 41 released by Malacañang..... MORE

A Filipino woman, caught with close to 50 grams of metamphetamine, locally known as shabu, was acquitted of drug smuggling in Italy, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

On May 4, the judge of the Civitavecchia Tribunal, on the strength of the evidence presented by the Philippine embassy-hired lawyer found the woman not guilty of drug charges. The Filipina was on house arrest during her trial which lasted seven months.

The 59-year-old was apprehended on Oct. 4, 2010 upon arrival at Italy’s Fiumicino Airport when authorities found 49.50 grams of shabu stashed inside a portable DVD player that she was asked to carry for a fellow overseas Filipino worker in Rome.

She was incarcerated at the Civitavecchia prison from the day of her arrest until her trial on Oct. 18 of the same year where she was granted house arrest for medical reasons..... MORE

05/19/2011
Movie and television star Richard Gutierrez reportedly berated traffic enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority who flagged down his vehicle for overspeeding on Commonwealth Avenue, also known as “Killer Highway,” in Quezon City.

Reports said the actor allegedly cursed and pointed fingers at some MMDA traffic officials who arrested his driver for overspeeding.

MMDA area supervisor Max Villa was quoted as saying, “Captain Barbell (Gutierrez) is hot-headed today, he showered MMDA officials with unkind words after his driver was caught overspeeding on Commonwealth Avenue.”

MMDA camera and speed radar guns located on Commonwealth Avenue recorded a 70-80 kilometer per hour speed in Gutierrez’s vehicle, the report said..... MORE